Senior electoral officials from across the Pacific gathered in the Solomon Islands last week to share insights and discuss common issues impacting electoral management.
This year’s annual in-person meeting of the Pacific Islands, Australia and New Zealand Electoral Administrators (PIANZEA) Network brought together representatives from 15 Pacific electoral administration bodies.
This year’s meeting focused on emerging challenges, including the use of AI in elections, threats to electoral integrity, and ensuring electoral institutions are adequately resourced to deliver their mandates. Longstanding items of importance for the Network were also discussed – such as voter turnout and youth engagement, as well as insights on the benefits and risks associated with different methods to enable out-of-country voting in the current environment.
Deputy Australian Electoral Commissioner Kath Gleeson, who is also the PIANZEA Chair, said the face-to-face meeting was an important opportunity for senior electoral administrators, many of whom have limited opportunities for formal engagement with other electoral administrators.
“PIANZEA was established almost 30 years ago. It is a fundamental forum for strengthening electoral integrity in the Indo-Pacific region, for building a shared understanding of best practice electoral administration, and for dynamically sharing insights on how to manage the many risks and complexities associated with election delivery now and into the future. electoral administration across the region,” Ms Gleeson said.
“A key feature of this year’s meeting was exploring the opportunities and risks for electoral administration associated with AI,” Ms Gleeson said.
“The AI environment is changing rapidly, so the ability to share insights on potential impacts amongst the PIANZEA network and our regional partners is invaluable.”
Discussions on AI follow last month’s UNDP’s Global Conference on Responsible AI and Elections in Ottawa.
Building on these discussions, participants at last week’s PIANZEA meeting also had presentations from the UN Development Programme and other intergovernmental electoral organisations, including International IDEA and the International Foundation for Electoral Systems .
Chaired by the AEC, PIANZEA is funded by the Australian Government through the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.
“Of course, this year’s meeting wouldn’t have been possible without the Solomon Islands Electoral Commission generously hosting us all in Honiara.”
